Published in the Iola Register on May. 14, 2013.

Tigers end CHS softball season

LINDSBORG — Top-seeded Clay Center dealt the Concordia Panthers a 12-2 defeat in the opening round of the Class 4A softball regional tournament on Monday.Clay Center (18-3) advances to the semifinals, and will play McPherson (15-6) today.McPherson got past Wamego, 7-5.Concordia finishes up the season at 5-10.The Panthers got out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning in the first-round game.Nikki Blankenbeckley walked with one out, and Madeline Hoard reached base on an error.Allissa Kearn drew a two-out walk to load the bases.MaKayla Nelson then walked to force home a run.Clay Center answered with four runs on three hits, a walk and a hit batter in the bottom of the first.Alyxis Bloom doubled and scored in the bottom of the second inning for the Tigers to make it 5-1.Clay Center picked up one run in the third inning, and led 6-1.Nelson walked and scored in the top of the fourth inning, and Concordia trailed just 6-2.Bloom hit a solo home run in the fifth inning to push Clay Center’s lead to 7-2.The Tigers put up five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to end the game because of the 10-run rule.Bloom hit a second home run in the inning, and had four hits in the game.Kearn took the loss for Concordia.Rebecca Kleinhauf limited the Panthers to two runs on one hit.In the other first-round games, Rock Creek downed Chapman 13-6 and Smoky Valley edged Abilene, 4-3.Rock Creek (15-4) and Smoky Valley (16-5) meet in the semifinals today.The championship game is scheduled for tonight.